Katy Wright

Operalia 2017 winners announced

3:10, 1st August 2017

Romanian soprano Adela Zaharia and South African tenor Levy Sekgapane have been named as winners of the 2017 Operalia Competition. Both singers receive $30,000 (£22,700).

The final round of this year’s contest, which took place on 29 July, saw singers vie for a share of the $180,000 (£136,000) prize pot. They performed under the baton of Plácido Domingo, accompanied by the Astana Opera Symphony Orchestra.

Russian soprano Kristina Mkhitaryan and Italian tenor Davide Giusti took second prize, and Kazakhstani soprano Maria Mudryak and South Korean baritone Leon Kim won third prize. Mudryak and Kim also received the audience prize.

The Birgit Nilsson Prize was awarded to Russian soprano Oksana Sekerina and Czech bass-baritone Boris Prýgl, and South Korean soprano Sooyeon Lee received the CulturArte prize.

Zaharia also won the Pepita Embil Prize, and Italian tenor Marco Ciaponi received the Don Plácido Domingo Ferrer Zarzuela Prize.

This year’s jury included Jonathan Friend, artistic administrator of the Metropolitan Opera; Dominique Meyer, director of the Wiener Staatsoper; Peter Katona, casting director of the Royal Opera House; and Joan Matabosch, artistic director of the Teatro Real.

The Operalia Competition was created in 1993 by Plácido Domingo to discover and help launch the careers of the most promising young opera singers of today. Although he does not vote, Domingo supervises proceedings and offers artistic and career advice to all of the participants.